Things can only get better from now - Indian CEOs
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 14 May 2009, 16:04 IST
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Things can only get better from now - Indian CEOs
Bangalore: If what CEOs of India's large companies think is anything to go by, the country's economy is all set to turn around. A majority of chief executives in India is convinced that the economy can only get better from now, says a poll by the Economic Times. Twenty one out of the 31 CEOs polled believe that India has seen off the economic slowdown and the new government will inherit an economy that is on the mend. "I think the worst is behind us," said Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the textiles-to-cement conglomerate Aditya Birla Group. The optimistic assessment comes despite a mixed bag of economic data: industrial output shrank by 2.3 percent in March to its worst level in more than 15 years but ABN Amro Bank's Purchasing Managers' Index shows manufacturing grew in April for the first time in six months. "There are signs of pick-up in manufacturing. With low interest rates, rural demand and a normal monsoon, the slowdown could be behind us except for some export-intensive sectors," said SAIL chief SK Roongta. However people like Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan are a bit suspicious towards the subtle uptrend in the economy. He hopes what he sees is not a mirage. "There are signs of recovery. Hope it's real and sustained," Gopalakrishnan said. CEOs of 29 of the 30 companies that make up the benchmark Sensex index of the Bombay Stock Exchange as well as the heads of steelmaker SAIL and the world's largest motorcycle company Hero Honda participated in the poll. Deepak Parekh, chairman of mortgage market leader HDFC, is confident that the economy can only grow in the current scenario, but he expects government to help the industries hit hardest by the slump. "There are certain industries which are doing well to extremely well. These include cement, finance, FMCG, telecom and banking. But there are also industries which are not doing too well like civil aviation, hospitality, retail and export sector, which the government should focus on," he said. The opinion of RS Sharma, the head of state-run oil firm ONGC, is strengthening Infosys CEO's doubts over the economy. "I don't think that worst is over. We can't completely delink ourselves from the global economy as our economy is also dependent on exports," said Sharma. Hero Honda head Pawan Munjal also is supporting this view. "There may still be some pain in store. Some pockets of the economy may have seen the worst behind them but few sectors will continue to see sluggish trends for the next four to five months," observed Hero Honda MD & CEO Munjal.

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